Infant feeding bottle holder



Oct. 3, 1944. E. F. SUMMERS, SR 2,359,452

INFANT FEEDING BOTTLE HOLDER 7 Filed Sept. 21, 1942 Ear? Z.3&772772811252,

Patented Oct. 3, 1944 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE INFANT FEEDING BOTTLEHOLDER Earl F. Summers, Sr., Wheeling, W. Va. Application September 21,1942', Serial No, 459,202

1 Claim. (01. 248-'-104) .The invention relates to devices forsupporting feeding bottles of infants, and particularly to needs forsupporting a bottle in a baby carriage, crib, bed, and the like.

It is well known that there is great difficulty on the part of parentsand nurses in carrying out the proper feeding of an infant by the bottleunless constant attention is given thereto, because the infant will losehold of the nipple and the bottle will roll under pillows or beneath thecovers, causing the child to fret and requiring an attendant to giveattention thereto in order to locate the bottle and replace the nipplein the mouth of the infant. It is therefore an important aim of thepresent invention to provide a means for supporting a bottle in suchmanner that in case the infant releases the nipple at any time, the"bottlev will be held in a position where the infant can. quickly againlocate the nipple and resume feeding without requiring assistance of anattendant.

It is also an important aim of the invention to provide means which willhold the bottle in such manner as to insure that the liquid contents ofthe bottle will feed properly through the nipple, so that the infantwill not suck air, ingestation of air being a common cause of discomfortto infants, and especially in connection with the taking of liquid foodsfrom a bottle, when the liquid fails to reach the nipple, and the infantdraws in a substantial quantity of air therethrough.

It is a common practice of mothers and nurses to stack pillows around aninfant in order to support the bottle in a desired position, with theresult that there is considerable risk of the child smothering,especially when very young, and it is an aim of my invention to providea means for supporting the bottle which will be free of all such risks.

An additional important aim is to provide a support of this kind whichis readily adjustable to take bottles of various sizes and shapeswithout modification of the manufacture of the article, and which isalso adaptable to beds, cribs, baby carriages, and other bed devices forinfants of widely varying sizes, so that it will operate alike in thevarious sizes of devices, without requiring modification in manufacture.

Another important aim of the invention is to provide a bottle supportwhich will be effective in supporting the bottle while at the same timeaccommodating itself to various possible movements of the infant, eitherlongitudinally or laterally, up or down. Another important aim is toprovide such a bottle support which will so hold the bottle that thesupport or the bottle cannot be easily displaced from its properposition, and cannot become engaged under pillows, covers, or other bedequipment, but will retain its proper position and the proper positionof the bottle even though it is momentarily displaced or not desired bythe infant or others.

Additional objects, advantages and features of invention reside'in theconstruction, arrangement. and combination of parts involved in theembodiment of the invention, as will be understood from the followingdescription and accompanying drawing, wherein Figure 1 is a perspectiveview of the bottle holder without a bottle therein and unattached to bedelements or other foundation support.

Figure 2 is a fragmentary longitudinal sectional view of a crib with ababy therein, and showing my invention in use, with a bottle in positionas it would normally be held by my device while the infant is feeding;

Figure 3 is a cross section of a crib showing my device mounted thereon,in one position.

There is illustrated a portion of a crib lo, a portion of a mattress ll,upon which an infant l2 reclines, with a simple pillow l3. There is alsoshown a portion of the side fence l4 of the crib with the usual verticalbars l5 arranged in vertical position spaced longitudinally of the crib.Between the side fences of the crib there is suspended my bottle holder,in which a bottle 16 is engaged and supported properly for use by theinfant in partaking of liquid nourishment. The bottle holder comprises ametal wire frame ll, or yoke, substantially U-shaped, including a bightportion I8, which in the present instance is of rectilinear form and hasarms 19 extended at right angles thereto at respective ends of thebight. These arms are formed with intermediate eyes 20, in which thereare engaged removably respective hooks 2|, each carried upon one end ofan elastic strap or bend 22, the outer end of which is provided with alarge ring 23 in which a piece of cord, ribbon, or other band or supportmay be engaged, as at 24, in Figure 3, this support strand beingextended from the ring a suitable distance and tied to a vertical bar orother part of the crib or its frame at a respective side of the crib.The arms H! at the bottle yoke are extended outwardly beyond the eyes 20substantially in the same direction as the inner portion of the arms 19,and at a suitable distance are turned inwardly toward each other andformed with recurved hooks 25 between which there is coengaged a helicalcontractile spring 26 serving as a bottle clamping or retaining piece,while at the same time being extensible and deflectible to receive thebottle thereunder, whereby bottles of various sizes may be readilyaccommodated and held in the device, but at all times removablemanually, without the manipulation of fastenings. For this purpose thespacing between the bight l8 and hooks 25 is less than the diameter ofthe smallest bottle to be used.

In practice, the elastic straps 22 are preferably made of comparativelyshort length in all sizes of the device, and the accommodation of thedevice to various widths of beds and the like is efiected by using aproper length of string at 24. In this way, excessive sagging of thesupport elements is obviated while the bottle is supported with thenecessary resilience of the sup-. port element 22 for the purposedescribed.

In the use of the device, it will be sold as indicated, in a standardsize for all bottles, and the user will attach the cord or ribbon at 24to the rings 23, and tie the support element 24 around opposite bars Iat the sides of the bed, or other suitable elements for supporting thedevice, substantially as shown in Figure 3 with the device adjusted atsuch height as will properly accommodate the bottle to be used, and thesize of the baby, and the height of the mattress. Cords 24 are attachedso that the straps or bands 22 are held stretched with suflicienttension to support a bottle filled with milk when engaged within theyoke, Without the device sagging down objectionably. The bottle with thefood therein may be inserted in the yoke I! while the device issuspended, or if desired, the yoke may be removed by disengaging thehooks 2| from the eye 20 and carrying the yoke to a suitable place Whereit may be pressed downwardly around the bottle to a positionsubstantially as shown in Figure 2. Preferably, the device is soadjusted that it is located nearer the bottom end of the bottle than tothe end upon which the nipple 21 is attached, as shown in Figure 2.While one type of bottle is shown, various other styles of bottles,either large or small-mouthed, may be employed, as will be appreciated.The device is preferably adjusted upon the bed so that it will supportthe bottle l6 above the body of the baby, spaced longitudinally from thehead of the child, and with the nipple end of the bottle disposed towardthe head of the infant. When the infant has emptied the bottle, thelatter may be removed at any time by disengaging the books 2! from theeyes 20 and removing the bottle with the yoke attached thereto to aconvenient place for cleaning, or the bottle may be withdrawn from theyoke slidingly, although it is believed preferable to remove the yoke I!with the bottle, and to svn'ng the support straps and hooks upwardly andoutwardly over the, side rails of the crib, so that they will be out ofthe way of the infant, this being one advantage of my invention, whileat the same time retaining the support members in convenient locationwithout liability of loss.

While the specific embodiment of the invention has been particularlydescribed, it will, nevertheless, be understood that various changes inthe size, arrangement and substitution .of equivalents in the device maybe made without departing from the spirit of the invention, as moreparticularly set forth in the claims, wherein,

I claim:

A support for feeding bottles for infants comprising a substantiallyU-shaped wire frame yoke having a hook member at the extremities of theyoke and having eye portions 'intermediately of the length of each sideof the yoke, a helical contractile spring engaged under tension betweenrespective hook members, and longitudinally elastic suspendable supportmembers detachably engaged with the eyes and having anchora e means attheir outer ends.

EARL F. SUMMERS, SR.

